Progeria is an extremely rare congenital condition that affects one in 8 million children. It is characterized mainly by the geriatric appearance of babies who exhibits seemingly signs of old age such as of wrinkled skin, thinning hair, and cricket postures. Most children diagnosed with this disease do not live beyond the age of 20. Countless research efforts have been put into discovering that cause of this genetic aging disorder but scientists have yet to make a breakthrough with this disease and come up with a cure, let alone an explanation, for the disorder more commonly known as the "Benjamin Button" condition.
In a whole other field of medicine, cosmetic experts have supposedly unlocked the key to using the research data obtained from years of research on the progeria disorder and use it to create products that could reverse aging. Many years worth of research showed that the pronounced aging symptoms in children was caused by a genetic mutation that stimulated the production of progerin, which is a toxic protein that prevents cell renewal. Further studies revealed that progerin is also present in the skin and fat cells of healthy people and that it increases as a person ages, impairing the skin's ability to produce collagen causing it to become dry and wrinkled.
These results have prompted researchers to investigate further on the idea of progerin-inhibition that may be the key to reversing skin ageing. When wielded properly, this product can effectively target skin problems including sagging and wrinkling.
One such product containing marine algae extracts that, supposedly, cause progerin destruction, has been launched recently by the cosmetic makers at Philosophy. Dr. Muriel Pujos, science coordinator for the parent company Coty said, "Intrinsic or aging accounts for around 20% of the signs of aging, with external aging link to UV damage, and stress and pollution accounting for the rest. While we can prevent sun damage it was thought we couldn't do anything about intrinsic aging. However, by helping cells to eliminate progerin, we can now fight this type of ageing."
